News and views about the implementation of the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act 2009 and other legislation, schemes and policies impacting the Right to Education of India's Children.

Wednesday, February 12, 2014

Shortage of trained teachers to help children with special needs

Aftab Pasha’s teacher at the Government Urdu Model Primary School admits
that it’s a challenge to give special attention to the boy, who has
polio and is reportedly a slow learner. Photo: Tanu Kulkarni

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Only 825 teachers with B.Ed. in special education teaching at govt., aided schools

Eight-year-old V. Manohar, who has cerebral palsy, is happiest when at
school. He is a student of class 3 at the Government Kannada School, Old
Byappanahalli.

His mother, Anjali B.M., says there has been a remarkable change in his
motor abilities after two years of formal education. “Although he is
mostly bound to the wheelchair, he now walks a few steps,” she says.
But, Ms. Anjali’s only grouse is that her son has not seen much
improvement academically. “He cannot even identify letters,” she says.

As per the evaluation techniques for children with special needs (CWSN)
chalked out by the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA), Manohar’s teacher is not
only supposed to make him physically comfortable in class, but also
change her teaching methods for his sake. Children with cerebral palsy
should be taught at three levels — with concrete things or objects,
through pictures and finally in the abstract. Teaching can be done in
five steps — matching, sorting, identifying, naming and generalising.

Ask his mother if these guidelines are followed and she says: “There are
some teaching aids in class meant just for him. But, he does not know
how to use them. Even though the teacher pays attention to his needs,
how much attention can she pay to him alone? After all there are 30
children in his class.”

There are 1.27 lakh CWSNs who have been enrolled in government and aided
schools across the State this year. With inclusive education being
given emphasis in the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education
Act, 2009, the SSA’s focus has been to ensure that every CWSN should be
placed in neighbourhood schools. After conducting camps and assessing
the nature of disability, the SSA has provided aids and appliances to
cater to their needs. But officials and teachers working at the
grassroots level say the inadequate number of trained teachers is a
major challenge.

Earlier, each block had three inclusive education resource teachers
(IERTs) and two outsourced staff trained as per the Rehabilitation
Council of India (RCI) norms. But after the Ministry of Human Resource
Development issued directions this year that staff who were not trained
as per the RCI norms would not receive salary, the SSA had to relieve
the IERTs and depute them to government schools as teachers. According
to sources in the SSA, if any blocks are faced with shortage, they can
hire IERTs.

In Karnataka, in 2012–13, there were 825 teachers who have completed
B.Ed. in special education and were working in government and aided
schools. In the same year, 1.47 lakh children were identified as CWSN,
highlighting the inadequate number of trained teachers. Though an
additional 6,000 teachers have undergone a 90-day training in special
education, it involves only 12 days of contact training. Sources in the
SSA said almost all teachers have undergone a three to six-day training
in special education, which is only an introductory session on the needs
of CWSNs.

Aftab Pasha, a 13-year-old at Government Urdu Model Primary School, is
testimony to this inadequacy. A student of class 7, he has polio and is
reportedly a slow learner. He can barely write his name and says he
often does not understand what is going on in class. There are about 30
students in his class and his teacher admits that giving him special
attention is a challenge.